Loren Christensen - Street Lessons, a Journey

STREET LESSONS, A JOURNEY

by

Loren W. Christensen

STREET LESSONS, A JOURNEY

LOREN W. CHRISTENSEN

Copyright 2018 Loren W. Christensen

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form

without written permission from the author.

All rights reserved

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A big hug to my friend and wife Lisa. Thank you for your patience and encouragement.

To all my teachers over the years: I am forever grateful.

Special thanks to Professor Dan Anderson and Tim Boehlert

for their advanced reading and editorial advice.

Neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for the use or misuse of the information in this book. Information in this book is distributed As Is without warranty. Nothing in this document constitutes a legal opinion nor should any of its contents be treated as such. Further, neither the author nor the publisher have any control over or assume any responsibility for websites or external resources referenced in this book.

CONTENTS

: The Early Years

: High School: The Fight That Didnt Happen

: It's Just Pain

: "We Can Beat Anyone With This"

: First Belt Test

: Breakthrough At 3 AM

: Dairy Queen, A fight, And Jail

: The Evolution Of My Karate Uniform

: Kata And Sparring Competition

: Tai Chi, Wind, And Ice Rain

: Finding The Zone

: Vietnamese Language School

: The Street: Lessons Learned

: Military Police

: City Police

: Miscellaneous Items

: It's Just Pain 2

: Speed

: Magic

: Improvising

: Self-Defense In Cold Weather

: Discipline

: Overtraining

: Work Your Favorite Techniques

: The Art Of Fighting Without Fighting

: Expert Witness

: Training My Kids

: Writing About The Martial Arts

: Those Who Have Pointed The Way

By Dan Anderson10 th Dan

Recipient: Joe Lewis Eternal Warrior Award

Martial artist. Warrior. Teacher. Researcher. Human being.

These are all qualities that one thinks of when considering a master of the martial arts. There are a handful of individuals who actually meet these qualifications. Loren W. Christensen is one of them.

Martial Artist

Loren has been involved in the martial arts since 1965, training in karate, jujutsu and the Filipino stick fighting/blade art of arnis, earning many degrees of black belt in each.

Ive known Loren for 52 years. I first met him on my 14 th birthday; karate lessons were a present from my mom. I arrived at the class one hour late, precisely when the beginning class ended. Rather than shoo away this kid who had an obvious look of disappointment on his face, Loren had one of his students give him his first lesson. I never quit from that day forward.

I remember all too well how Loren ran our classes. He punched, kicked, and drilled harder and faster than any of us. He would be dripping with sweat when the class endedand he was the teacher! He was quite an inspiration for me. This type of training continued for a year or so, and then we all got the news that he was headed for the Army.

Warrior

Loren told me way back then that he was an MP (military policeman) in Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam during what had to be the most unpopular war in American history. In an exchange of letters, I asked him what that meant and who he policed. I found out a little, but nothing like what is contained in this book. As I said, I have known him for over half a century and he reveals details of his stint in Vietnam that never came through in his letters. This section of his book is an education.

Teacher/Researcher

Based on his real-life experiences, both as an MP in Saigon and on the streets as a police officer in Portland, Oregon for 25 years, Loren has found first-hand what works and what does not. These experiences resulted in his own system-blend that he calls Mushin (moo-shin), a Japanese term meaning no mind. Mushin, in a martial arts sense, means to have no preconception of what is going to happen. Instead, one observes and responds without thinking, analyzing, or planning. This skill takes time and hard training to develop, but when you have only a split second between a safe exit from a dangerous situation and becoming a victim, this is the skill and mindset you need.

As a fulltime writer, Loren has written 60 books and countless articles, many of them on self-defense and ways to train properly. As a teacher, he has worked tirelessly to aid the everyday student in their journey so, hopefully, they will circumvent the same mistakes he made on his. There is a maxim in the martial arts that the goal of every teacher is for his student to become better than him. This maxim can be found in his many books and articles.

Human Being

Of all the attributes of a martial arts master, this quality is what separates a mere fighter from a quality master. As you will find out when reading this book, Loren has a sense of humor as well as a sense of knowing what is real to him without denigrating others. This is rare in the martial arts world. Far too many martial artists prop themselves up on their criticism of others. You wont find that in these pages. What you will find is plain talk, no b.s.

Respected martial artist Iain Abernethy once wrote, We sometimes forget that the martial arts do not exist without martial artists. It is martial artists who make the martial arts, and it is for that reason I love reading about the personalities who have shaped the arts we practice. It's also easy to forget that the history of the martial arts is still being written. The highly-skilled practitioners of today will one day be talked about in the same hushed tones as the masters of the past. It's therefore always great to read about the martial artists of our time from those martial artists themselves!

My sentiments exactly. This book reads as though you are sitting across a table drinking coffee with Loren. His story is one that needs to be read.

This is the story of my sensei. Enjoy.

I have always hated bullies.

A Kidnapping Of Sorts

When I was in second grade, two carloads of punk teenagersthis was the 1950s, so they all looked like the cast from West Side Story chased me down in their cars, trapped me between two houses, and wouldnt let me go for a couple of hours. They mocked me, threatened to kill me, and made jokes at my expense. Some of the guys had girlfriends with them, and they hung on their boyfriends and smothered them in kisses in appreciation for how they were terrifying me, a second grader.

At one point when the punks were distracted by another carload of hoodlums pulling up to add to my misery, I took off like a cheetah, not stopping until I reached my home two miles away.

I know now that in some jurisdictions, this would be considered kidnapping. But in my mind then, the punks were bullies, and they made me feel weak, trivial, and afraid. It would be the beginning of a life-long hatred of those who use power, in all its forms, to dominate others.

Hotrod Bullies

When I was about 15, my buddy Mike and I were walking on the shoulder of a dark road when a souped-up hotrod roared by, the two punks inside yelling something at us. That would have been the end of it, but Mike and I yelled back. Why? Because we were idiots. When the car squealed to a stop, Mike and I whispered a simultaneous Uh-oh, then leaped down a short embankment and began running across a field of tall, yellow grass. The hotrod burnt rubber backward, worked its way down the embankment, then bounced across the ruts and gopher holes after us.

Mike and I were setting new track records toward the far side of the field, but the car with the extra loud mufflers was faster. When its front grill was about 15 feet from our heels, I jumped to the left and Mike went right. The car roared between us, cranked a sliding U-turn, then hesitated, its glaring headlights telling us how deep we were in the doo-doo.